Processing operations requiring very clean environments, such as the manufacture of semiconductor devices, require the construction and use of a clean room to provide a suitably clean environment. Using conventional construction techniques and materials to erect walls generates an objectionable amount of contamination of the work space by airborne particles and other debris. Removing and altering conventionally constructed walls would also result in an undesirable amount of contamination to the clean room. The materials chosen for clean room construction are relatively dust free, such as aluminum, which can be handled and formed without generating much dust or debris. Non-progressive wall construction systems with framing members capturing wall panels are commonly used for clean rooms. They allow walls to be erected with a minimum of cutting and drilling, and also permit removal of single panels in a continuous wall without removing adjacent panels. Almost all sizing and cutting of the wall components can be done outside of the clean room area.
Some clean room wall systems, however, have the disadvantage of only being suited for use as a clean room wall on one side of the assembled wall. Another concern is with the ease of assembly of the walls. Some wall systems require a high degree of manual dexterity to assemble the panels into the supporting frame members. Nuts must be suspended in a slot with one hand, while trying to align a bracket and thread a bolt into the nut with the other hand. Yet another concern with present clean room wall systems is the number of special components and frame member brackets used to accommodate joints between walls such as inside corners and outside corners. The proliferation of parts for a system dramatically increases the cost of producing that system.